Vladimir Nabokov - The Tragedy of Mister Morn

TREMENS

ELLA

GANUS

KLIAN

FOREIGNER

MIDIA

DANDILIO

MISTER MORN

EDMIN

SERVANTS

GUESTS (including FIRST GUEST, SECOND GUEST, LADY, GREY-HAIRED GUEST, SECOND VISITOR, THIRD VISITOR)

OLD MAN

FOUR REBELS

CAPTAIN and FOUR SOLDIERS

A room. The curtains are drawn. A fire blazes . TREMENS sleeps in an armchair by the fire, wrapped up in a spotted blanket. He awakens heavily .

TREMENS:

Dream, fever, dream; the soundless changing

of two sentinels standing at the gates

of my powerless life…

On the walls

the floral patterns form mocking faces;

the burning hearth hisses at me, not with fire

but with a serpent chill… O heart, O heart,

blaze up! Begone, fever, you snake!… Helpless

am I… But, O my heart, how I would like

to lend my trembling sickness to this fair

and careless city, so that the Royal Square

should sweat and blaze, as does my brow;

so that the barefoot streets should grow cold,

so that the whistling wind should shudder

the tall houses, the gardens, the statues

at the crossroads, the embankments, the ships

on the convulsing waters!…

[ calls out ]

Ella!… Ella!…

[ELLA enters, elegantly coiffed but in a dressinggown .]

TREMENS:

Give me some port and that glass phial,

the one on the right, with the green tag…

So, you are going dancing?

ELLA [ uncorks the decanter ]:

Yes.

TREMENS:

Will your Klian be there?

ELLA:

He will.

TREMENS:

Is it love?

ELLA [ sits down on the arm of the chair ]:

I don’t know… It’s all so strange…

It’s not at all as it is in songs… Last night

I dreamt that I was a new white bridge,

made out of pine, I think, and covered in tears

of resin, thrown lightly over an abyss… And so

I waited. Alas, there were no timid footsteps—

the bridge yearned to yield sweetly, to crunch

in torment beneath the thunder of blind hooves…

I waited—and then, suddenly, I saw:

towards me, towards me, blazing, wailing,

whirled forth the form of a Minotaur,

with the broad chest and face of Klian!

Blissfully I surrendered—and awoke…

TREMENS:

I understand, Ella… Well, this pleases me—

it is my blood which has cried out in you,

my greedy blood…

ELLA [ preparing the medicine ]:

One drop… two drops… five,

six… seven… Enough?

TREMENS:

Yes. Get dressed,

go… it’s late… Wait—stoke the fire…

ELLA:

Coals, coals, you blushing hearts… Fain burn!

[ looks at herself in the mirror ]

How is my hair? I’ll wear a gold gauze dress.

I am going…

[ On her way out, she stops .]

… Oh, Klian brought me

his poems the other day; he sings them

so amusingly, flaring his nostrils slightly,

closing his eyes—like this, look—his palm

stroking the air as if it were a little

dog…

[ Exits, laughing .]

TREMENS:

My greedy blood… And yet her mother

was so trusting and so tender; yes,

tender and cleaving, like pollen, drifting

through the air, onto my chest… Off with you,

you sunny piece of fluff!… Thank you, Death,

that you took this tenderness away from me:

free am I, free and reckless… Henceforth,

my servant Death, shall we oft agree… O,

I will send you out into this very night,

into those blazing windows above dark mounds

of snow; into those houses where life

twirls and dances… But I must wait…

It is not time yet… I must wait.

[ Falls asleep. There is a knock at the door .]

TREMENS [ shaking off sleep ]:

Come in!…

SERVANT:

There is, my lord, a man out there—a dark,

bedraggled man—he wants to see you…

TREMENS:

His name?

SERVANT:

He won’t say.

TREMENS:

Let him in.

[SERVANT exits. A MAN enters through the open door and stops on the threshold .]

TREMENS:

What do you want?

MAN [ slowly grinning ]:

… And still

the same spotted blanket on his shoulders…

TREMENS [ looks closer at him ]:

Forgive me… my eyes are bleary… but,

I do recognize, I recognize… Yes,

for certain… Is it you,—you? Ganus?

GANUS:

You weren’t expecting me? My friend, my leader,

my Tremens, you weren’t expecting me? …

TREMENS:

Four years, Ganus!…

GANUS:

Four years? Not years,

but stony boulders! Rocks, hard labour,

loneliness—and then—an indescribable

escape!… Tell me, how is my wife, Midia?

TREMENS:

She lives, she lives… Yes, I recognize you,

friend—the same Ganus, quick as fire,

the same passion in your speech and movements…

So you fled? And… what of the others?

GANUS:

I escaped—they still languish… You know,

I came to you, like the wind—straight away,

I’ve not yet been home… So you say, Midia…

TREMENS:

Listen, Ganus, I need to explain to you…

It is strange that the main rebel leader… No, no,

don’t interrupt me! In truth, is it not strange

that I am free, when I know that my friends

suffer in black exile? I live just as before:

rumour does not name me; I’m still the same

twisted and secret leader… But believe me,

I did everything to burn in hell with you—

when they seized you all, I, incorruptible,

wrote a denunciation against Tremens…

Two days went by, on the third day I received

an answer. What was it? Well, listen: it was,

I remember, a dull and windy evening. I was

too lazy to put on the lights. It was growing

dark. I sat here and shook with fever,

rippling like a reflection in an ice-hole.

Ella had not yet returned from school. Suddenly—

a knock, and a man enters; his face obscured

in shadow, his voice muffled, as though it too

were tinged with darkness. Ganus, you are

not listening!…

GANUS:

My friend, my dear friend,

you can tell me this later. I’m agitated,

I cannot follow. I want to forget, forget

all this—the smoke of revolutionary

conversation, the backstreets in the night…

Advise me, what shall I do: go to Midia now,

or wait? Oh, don’t be angry! Don’t!…

Please, go on…

TREMENS:

Understand, Ganus, I must

explain! There are more important things

than earthly love…

GANUS:

…And so, this stranger…

tell me…

TREMENS:

…was very strange. Quietly

he approached me: “The King has read your letter

and thanks you for it,” he said, taking off

his glove, and a smile, it seemed, slipped across